By Simone Floyd, DPT
How to Treat Neck Pain
Neck pain is one of the most common complaints we get in our office. Neck pain can result for many different reasons. It is important to get your neck evaluated by a licensed physical therapist or chiropractor to learn the root cause of your neck pain, but the purpose of this blog is to teach you some techniques to help to cope with your pain.
In this blog you are going to learn 3 stretches and several self release techniques to help improve your symptoms. It is important to note that none of the activities should cause pain while you are performing them at home. If they are painful, then these activities may not be the right ones for you right now. Just always remember to listen to your body.
Addressing Neck Pain with Stretching
Neck stretches are a good tool to help loosen up tissue that has become stiff from activities of daily living. The stretches should feel like a lengthening, but should not increase your symptoms.You should hold all your stretches for 30 seconds to promote tissue extensibility and perform them 1-2x per day.In the video below, I am going to go over to how to perform a stretch for the levator scapulae, upper trapezius, and sternocleidomastoid. These muscles are some of the most commonly bothersome muscles of the neck.
Relieving Neck Pain with Self-Release
Another good way to influence the tissue in your neck is to do soft tissue work yourself. You can use a lacrosse or tennis ball to perform the self release. You can also use a foam roller to get into the thoracic spine, which will in return help your cervical spine (your neck).I want to make a note to never place the release ball directly on a vertebrae, but rather to the side, and you should never place a foam roller directly under your neck.
